Passengers said driver may have dozed off when the accident took place; injured accuse private hospital of asking them to pay fee before getting first-aid; hospital management denies claim

The UP Roadways bus that fell off the Yamuna Expressway near Pari Chowk early on Sunday.

Two people were killed and 22 injured when a state bus fell off the Yamuna Expressway near Pari Chowk in Uttar Pradesh early on Sunday.

Police said Sagar Sharma (25), from Auraiya, and Ramkishan (50), from Etawah, were killed on the spot.

The injured were taken to the Kailash Hospital in Greater Noida where they are currently undergoing treatment.

The UP Roadways bus from Auraiya depot was headed to Anand Vihar.

According to the preliminary investigation, police suspect the driver might have dozed off while he was at the wheel.

The bus hit the divider and fell into the underpass cabin just ahead of Jaypee Sports City in Greater Noida.

Prahlad Yadav, the officiating station house officer of Dankaur police station, said the driver, Pradeep, had suffered severe head injuries and is on ventilator support in the intensive care unit. His condition continues to be critical.

An NSG commando, Yogender Singh (27), hailing from Jalaun, who was one of the passengers, said that the incident took place just before 5am.

“Most of the passengers were asleep, but I was awake. Almost all of them were jolted awake when they felt a lot of jerks, as the bus ran over the divider. By the time I shouted to alert the driver, who had probably dozed off, the bus had started falling into the underpass cabin, which is towards the right side of the road,” Singh said.

He added that the first responders were the police personnel from UP Dial 100 service.

He said he did not remember who called the police as he had lost consciousness after suffering a head injury.

The injured reached the hospital around 5.30am.

“We reached the hospital around 5.30am. Upon arrival, I was given an injection. Since then, I have been sitting and waiting for a CT scan; it has been more than four hours,” Yogender Singh said.

Relatives of victims alleged that hospital authorities refused to admit the injured until a fee was paid.

“They were asking us to pay first. I couldn’t immediately pay, so I gave them the reference of Naveen Hospital. They started the treatment after that,” Somesh Kumar, a relative of injured passengers, said.

Kumar’s mother, Lakshmi Devi (48), brother Sarvesh Kumar (19) and sister Upeksha (17), all of whom were travelling with him, were also admitted to the hospital for first-aid.

According to Kumar, a few patients who could not afford to pay the fee left the hospital without receiving proper treatment.

However, the hospital authorities denied the allegations and said the basic first aid was administered as soon as the patients arrived.

“Four patients are admitted here as their condition continues to be critical. The rest left the hospital after receiving basic first-aid. We conducted almost 50 X-Rays without charging a fee,” BK Sharma, assistant general manager of the Kailash Hospital, said.